PUNCH BOWL FALLS

The restroom was nestled into a very green and beautiful setting. It even had running water. Due to the recent rain, the tables you see in the foreground were quite damp, as were all surfaces exposed to the weather.

As we are walking from our car to the hiking trail, here was the view looking back towards our car (the white van about 7 cars down the line). Things are really green, and for the moment the sun is actually shining. This is just a little after 09:00 and the trail we were heading for turned out to be quite empty. Later in the day things got busier, but we were already on the return portion of our hike before we started seeing many people on the trail.

There was a guy in the parking lot, with a perpetual scowl on his face, and an orange vest on, who we think was connected with this sign. You can see some cars in the background, however, this was the last point on the trail where we could still see any part of the parking lot.

Off to the side of the trail at this point, Eagle Creek was flowing by merrily. You can see the white water created from the stream passing over stones in the creek bed. Also, it is easy to see how clear the water in this creek is, with all the rock lining the bottom of the creek bed easily visible.

LeRoy and Dotti with Eagle Creek in the background.

Dotti and LeRoy walking on the trail.

There was green growth hanging from a great many of the trees along our path. It gave the forest a bit of a creepy feeling, but it was beautiful too.

About a mile and a half into the walk, across the valley, and Eagle Creek, we saw Metlaka Falls, which is a "triple falls." So, we grabbed the chance to take some pictures. Here is LeRoy and Dotti.

Lastly, a zoom of Metlaka Falls themselves.

Here Dotti was leading the way, and I got her and LeRoy to stop for a quick picture. As you can see, the lighting shows that the sky was overcast at the moment. We had quite a range of weather during our hike. We started out with some sunshine, and then later a shower moved through and dropped quite a lot of water. Later the sun came back. Throughout the walk the tall trees were dropping water from previous shower bursts, and little rivulets, streams, and miniature waterfalls were presenting themselves all along the trail.

Dotti and LeRoy are making the crossing of the stream. Along with the scenic background, notice that one of the large circular stones that have been placed across the creek has had its foundation washed away and it has sunk into the stream. Other, smaller, stones have been placed on top of it to allow hikers to cross without getting wet. When I stepped on the stone where Dotti and LeRoy are standing, I felt a slight give to it as well. It may not be too much longer before that stone will also have to be replaced by others.

Al and Dotti.

We continued up the path for a ways, as the rain started coming down in earnest. You can see Dotti has her hood on, and the background is dark, and her coat is wet. (Fortunately Dotti and I had water proof jackets on.) The temperature had dropped, and my hands were nearly numb when I snapped this picture.

At this point, we decided that since we had already reached our original goal (Punch Bowl Falls) and the weather was turning much worse, we would turn around at this point and head back to the falls, to locate the trail we had missed, and then back to the car. We would leave High Bridge, Tunnel Falls and all other delights of the upper trail for another day, and not overdo on our first official outing of the CFHC (Coon Family Hiking Club).

Now we have made it back to the path to the Punch Bowl Falls path, and taken it down to Eagle Creek. We are actually looking over a short falls, from upstream. Punch Bowl falls lies behind the camera at this point. I felt this valley with the creek running through it was definitely worth a picture!

The greenery surrounding the Punch Bowl Falls pool area is quite lush. I had to take this picture of the bolder that has been completely covered with growth. Also, please note the crystal clear water! You can see bottom as well as if there were no water at all. (Probably better, because the water magnifies what is below its surface!)

LeRoy is watching his mother negotiate the slick stones. Behind him you can see the green everywhere, and the mini-falls dropping just in front of the fallen tree, with the valley extending into the distance. The surface of all the stones are very wet from the recent rain shower, and we had to watch our step to avoid slipping.

One feature of this trail is a run of fairly narrow ledge over a very long, and dangerous drop. In fact there are two such runs. Each of them is 100 feet or more, and the builders of the trail have nicely placed steel cables along the inner pathway, attached to hooks that are embedded into the rock wall. Here Dotti is holding onto the cable with the path, which headed back towards the car, going off behind her around the bend. At this point you see Dotti holding onto the cable. (She gave me a real fright at one point when she was not holding the cable and she momentarily lost her balance. Fortunately, she regained it in time.)

One of the anchoring metal hooks, that hold the safety cable in place.

I included this shot because it gives a better feel for the cliff's height and sharp vertical drop.

LeRoy walking along beside the cable run.

One of the most striking things that I saw on our walk was the way so many trees were completely covered with green moss or other growth. It gave the forest a magical feel, and we felt like leprechauns, elves or fairies would be popping out from behind the trees at any moment.

It is a 4.2 mile round trip to the base of the falls and back. In addition to that, we went an additional distance of at least 0.3 miles, probably farther. So, officially we will call it a 4.5-mile hike, which we completed in 2 hours and 45 minutes, including all picture stops, and other stops for just plain gawking at the absolutely stunningly beautiful scenery.

We had a great time on our first official CFHC hike and we are planning to get one hike in each week whenever possible. At some point we plan to return to this Eagle Creek Trail and go to the top of it, but that is 13 miles one way to Wahtum Lake, and we will have to be in better shape to make that run. Before that, we may return to this trail to do a shorter run up to Tunnel Falls, which is only 6 miles one way and could more easily be completed in one day.